(commonly abbreviated as Nintendo R&D1 and formerly known as before splitting in 1978) was a division of Nintendo, and is its oldest development team. Its creation coincided with Nintendo's entry into the video game industry, and the original R&D1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi. The developer has created several notable Nintendo series such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Metroid.
R&D1 developed the hugely successful Game Boy line, which was released in 1989. They developed some of the line's most popular games, such as Super Mario Land, and created the character of Wario.
Team Shikamaru was a small club within Nintendo R&D1 that was composed of Makoto Kano, Yoshio Sakamoto, and Toru Osawa. The group was responsible for designing characters and coming up with scripts for several games including Metroid, Kid Icarus, Famicom Detective Club, Trade & Battle: Card Hero, and several others.
After Yokoi's resignation in 1996, this group was led by Takehiro Izushi. In 2004, Satoru Iwata restructured the Nintendo R&D1 team. Many of the staff members were later reassigned to the Nintendo SPD team, which in turn merged with Nintendo EAD in 2015 to form Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.
History
Background
In 1965, Nintendo, still primarily a hanafuda card manufacturer, hired Gunpei Yokoi, a newly graduated electronics engineer. Yokoi was assigned to the manufacturing division to work on the assembly line machines used to manufacture its cards. In the following year, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, during a visit to the factory Yokoi was working at, took notice of a toy, an extending arm, that Yokoi had made for his own amusement during his spare time. As Yamauchi was looking to diversify the company's business far beyond its primary card business, Yokoi was ordered to develop the toy into a proper mass-market product for the 1966 holiday rush. The toy was launched as Ultra Hand, and became a huge success, selling over 1.2 million units during its lifetime. Following that, Yokoi was assigned to work on other toys, namely the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a miniature remote-controlled vacuum cleaner called the Chiritori, a baseball throwing machine called the Ultra Machine, and a "Love Tester", a novelty device designed to show how much two people loved each other.
1970s-1978: Creation and first electronic games
<!-- 1970-1972: Creation -->
Sometime before 1972, Nintendo created its first electronics development team, the Research & Development department from Nintendo's manufacturing division, assigning Gunpei Yokoi as its general manager. By 1972 the department had approximately 20 developers. In 1978, the manufacturing division split its single research & development department into two, renaming it to Research & Development No. 1 (R&D1) and creating the Nintendo Research & Development No. 2 (R&D2) department. After the split, Yokoi remained general manager of R&D1.
1979-1988: Game & Watch
<!-- 1979-1980: Origin -->
In the late 1970s, Yokoi saw a bored Japanese salaryman playing with a calculator on the Shinkansen high-speed train. This was the inspiration for the creation of the Game & Watch series, a line of handheld electronic games, with each system featuring a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock, an alarm, or both. Regardless, it was confirmed that Yokoi was inspired by calculators to develop the line, even using calculator integrated circuits in the systems and button cells to power them. From then on, all major video game consoles since have had a D-pad of some shape on their controllers, until the Nintendo Switch in 2017.
1989-1990: Game Boy
thumb|upright=1|[[Game Boy, the highly-successful handheld video game console]]
<!-- 1989: Game Boy -->
When the department started working on a successor to the Game & Watch series, Yokoi envisioned a simple and cheap system with interchangeable game cartridges. Development of the system, however, suffered from disagreements in direction, with assistant director Satoru Okada arguing for a more powerful system with third-party development and long-term support from Nintendo, emulating the successful business model that Nintendo R&D2 had achieved with the Nintendo Entertainment System, while Yokoi planned for a much cheaper, less powerful device with a shorter life-span, similar to its predecessor. During an interview, Okada compared the initial project to the Microvision. Eventually, Yokoi agreed to Okada's plan and the project would be known as the Game Boy.
1991-1994: Virtual Boy
thumb|The [[Virtual Boy, developed by R&D1, emulates 3-D visuals by use of individual red monochrome displays for each eye. It was considered a commercial failure.]]
<!-- 1991-1994: Virtual Boy -->
In 1991, Nintendo partnered with Massachusetts-based Reflection Technology, Inc. who had developed a 3D stereoscopic head-tracking prototype called the Private Eye. Gunpei Yokoi saw this as a unique technology that competitors would find difficult to emulate. Additionally, the resulting game console was intended to enhance Nintendo's reputation as an innovator and to "encourage more creativity" in games. Code-naming the project "VR32",
Spending four years in development and eventually building a dedicated manufacturing plant in China, retailing for more than .
1995: Game Boy successor
<!-- 1995: Project Atlantis -->
In 1995, the department started developing a successor to the Game Boy, under the code-name Atlantis. Despite its predecessors having a monochrome display, the R&D1 team had already experimented with color displays from as early as 1992. The Atlantis prototype consisted of an handheld with a 32-bit ARM7 CPU, a larger color display, and four face buttons. It was reported that the system was supposed to release in late 1996.
<!-- 1996: Game Boy Pocket -->
Meanwhile, the department was also working on a revision of the Game Boy. The system would require fewer batteries, providing approximately 10 hours of gameplay, and was also equipped with a DC connector which could be used to power the system. The screen was also changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the green-tinted monochrome display of the original Game Boy, and had an improved pixel response-time, mostly eliminating the ghosting effect. It finally released as the Game Boy Pocket on July 21, 1996, in Japan, on September 3 in North America, and in Europe during the following year. Although it had no power LED initially, it was soon added to later editions due public demand.
<!-- 1996-1997: Project Atlantis cancelled -->
Following the commercial success of the Game Boy Pocket, the Atlantis system was delayed by a year to late 1997. Nonetheless, the system was eventually cancelled due to concerns of it being too big, having a drastically decreased battery life (to approximately 1 hour, as LCD color displays required a back-light at the time), and being too expensive to manufacture.
1996-2003: Gunpei Yokoi's departure and hardware team spin-off
<!-- 1996: Gunpei Yokoi's departure and change in management -->
On August 15, 1996, long-time department general manager, Gunpei Yokoi, left Nintendo to form his own company, Koto Laboratory. Despite speculation that he had left Nintendo due to the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy a year prior, Yokoi clarified that he'd long wished to become independent. Yokoi and his new company eventually worked on the WonderSwan handheld for Bandai before his tragic death in 1997 in a traffic accident. In order to fill Yokoi's vacancy, long-time Nintendo engineer Takehiro Izushi was appointed as the new general manager of the department. Additionally, the department's hardware team was spun-off into a new development department, called Nintendo Research & Engineering and led by Satoru Okada. The software development team, however, remained at R&D1. This new department would be responsible for continuing the Game Boy's legacy becoming the source of every major Nintendo handheld game console until its closure in 2012.
<!-- 1997-2004: Video games -->
Following Yokoi's departure, and no longer having a dedicated hardware development team, the department focused instead on developing games for other Nintendo-developed consoles. It was responsible for the re-releases of its Game & Watch classics in the Game & Watch Gallery series for both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, starting in 1997. It also developed sequels to its Wario Land classic in the form of Wario Land II, released in 1998, and Wario Land 3, in 2000, both for the Game Boy Color, and Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance, released a year later. The department was also responsible for creating the Wario spin-off series with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. After an 8-year hiatus, R&D1 introduced a new installment in its Metroid series, Metroid Fusion, released in 2002. In 2004, R&D1's last project was launched, Metroid: Zero Mission a remake of the original game.
2004: Absorbed into Nintendo Software Planning & Development
<!-- 2004: Absorbed into Nintendo SPD -->
In 2004, the department, along with Nintendo Research & Development 2, was absorbed into the newly created Nintendo Software Planning & Development division. Then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata created and appointed himself as general manager of the new division to focus on co-producing and supervising second-party development, thus relieving the Entertainment Analysis & Development division (EAD) and its general manager Shigeru Miyamoto to focus on first-party projects. Although that was the division's primary focus, it went on to develop some video games titles internally.
<!-- 2018 - Takehiro Izushi retires -->
In 2018, former general manager of the R&D1 department Takehiro Izushi retired from Nintendo after 43 years in the company.
Products developed
Electronic games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of electronic games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Genre(s)
! scope="col" | Platform(s)
! scope="col" | Series
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1980
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Ball <!-- April 28, 1980 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Silver
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Flagman <!-- June 5, 1980 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Silver
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Popeye <!-- August 5, 1981 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Chef <!-- September 8, 1981 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse <!-- October 9, 1981 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Egg <!-- October 9, 1981 --> <!-- Egg comes after Mickey Mouse due to official numbering -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Fire <!-- December 4, 1981 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| rowspan="8" | 1982
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Turtle Bridge <!-- February 1, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Fire Attack <!-- March 26, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Snoopy Tennis <!-- April 28, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Oil Panic <!-- May 28, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong <!-- June 3, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. <!-- October 26, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| New Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mickey & Donald <!-- November 12, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Green House <!-- December 16, 1982 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| rowspan="15" | 1983
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong II <!-- March 7, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mario Bros. <!-- March 14, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. <!-- April 28, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Table Top
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory <!-- April 28, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Table Top
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory <!-- June 16, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| New Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Snoopy <!-- July 5, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Table Top
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Rain Shower <!-- August 10, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Popeye <!-- August 17, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Table Top
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Manhole <!-- August 24, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| New Wide Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Snoopy <!-- August 30, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Popeye <!-- August 30, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. <!-- October 7, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Lifeboat <!-- October 25, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mario's Bombs Away <!-- November 13, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Pinball <!-- December 5, 1983 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| rowspan="7" | 1984
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Spitball Sparky <!-- February 7, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Super Color
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Crab Grab <!-- February 21, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Super Color
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse <!-- February 28, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Boxing <!-- July 31, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Micro Vs. System
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong 3 <!-- August 20, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Micro Vs. System
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Circus <!-- September 6, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Panorama
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Hockey <!-- November 13, 1984 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Micro Vs. System
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1985
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Black Jack <!-- February 15, 1985 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| Multi Screen
|
|-
| scope="row" | Game & Watch: Tropical Fish <!-- July 8, 1985 -->
|
| Game & Watch
| New Wide Screen
|
|}
Video game consoles
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of video game consoles developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" |
|-
| 1989
|scope="row" | Game Boy <!-- April 21, 1989 (JP) -->
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1995
| scope="row" | Game Boy Play-It-Loud! <!-- March 20, 1995 -->
|
|-
| scope="row" | Virtual Boy <!-- July 21, 1995 (JP) -->
|
|-
| 1996
| scope="row" | Game Boy Pocket
|
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of video games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Genre(s)
! scope="col" | Platform(s)
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
|1978
| scope="row" |Computer Othello <!-- 1978 (JP) -->
|
|Arcade
|-
| rowspan="4" |1979
| scope="row" |Head On N <!-- 1979 (JP) -->
|
|Arcade
|
|-
| scope="row" |Monkey Magic <!-- 1979 (JP) -->
|
|Arcade
|